Gypsy Bar's opening puts CityScape at 100% occupied

An upscale nightclub-meets-arcade will open its doors to revelers at CityScape tonight, completing downtown Phoenix's centerpiece development.

Fittingly dubbed Gypsy Bar, the newest hot spot will boast a revolving set of live, vaudeville-style performers and theme parties. It combines a state-of-the-art dance floor, restaurant and video-gaming to bring a unique type of adult entertainment to the central city.

Of course, dancing and cocktail-sipping are nothing new to downtown, but developers and city officials say the project has a special meaning for the area: 100 percent occupancy at CityScape.

The two-block office and retail high-rise has been a focus of redevelopment efforts in the city's heart. Gypsy Bar gives the project a colorful exclamation point, and helps to combat downtown's reputation as a ghost town after dark.

"We feel that downtown Phoenix is at a tipping point," club owner Steven Foster said, adding that the city's addition of light rail and urban housing has brought new energy. "We just feel the time is right."

CityScape, which opened with a handful of tenants in November 2010, has weathered challenging economic times with extensive help from the city and community groups. The roughly $600 million project has since welcomed several major additions, including its capstone tenant, Hotel Palomar, earlier this year.

Jeff Moloznik, project manager for RED Development, the firm behind CityScape, said Gypsy Bar helps to complete the entertainment-district feel that has long been envisioned. He said the development's existing restaurants and bars have managed to successfully lure crowds at lunchtime, happy hour and dinner, but a late-night dance club has been the "missing link."

"It's been building for this over the course of the past two years," Moloznik said. "(Downtown is) totally different than it was two years ago. I mean, it's starting to form an identity and an intrigue."

Gypsy Bar is unlike other bars and clubs already downtown, many of which cater to a niche market. Decked out with leather couches, minimalist decor and a dance floor tricked out with gadgets, Gypsy is unapologetically mainstream. It's intended to cater to a broad, yet upscale, general audience.

The bar is on the second floor of CityScape, connected to neighboring Lucky Strike Lanes, the posh bowling alley owned by the same company. Foster said about $2.5 million has been invested in the nightclub.

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton said the arrival of Gypsy Bar and CityScape's other tenants shouldn't be surprising as it speaks to the demographic change occurring downtown. As the economy recovers, many people are preferring to live an urban lifestyle, he said.

"It's going to be an exciting time to be in the heart of the city," Stanton said.